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PubMed · 15693762

Are A-not-B errors caused by a belief about object location?

Ted Ruffman·Lance Slade·Juan Carlos Sandino·Amanda Fletcher
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Abstract

Eight- to 12-month-olds might make A-not-B errors, knowing the object is in B but searching at A because of ancillary (attention, inhibitory, or motor memory) deficits, or they might genuinely believe the object is in A (conceptual deficit). This study examined how diligently infants searched for a hidden object they never found. An object was placed in A twice, and then in B. In a different task the object was placed beside A twice, and then in B. Infants made more A-not-B errors in the former task, and perseverating infants searched diligently in A rather than in B. Infants seemed to believe the object was in A, suggesting that both a conceptual deficit and ancillary deficits account for A-not-B errors.

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AttentionChild DevelopmentCultureExploratory BehaviorFemaleHumansInfantInhibition, PsychologicalMaleMemoryMotion PerceptionPsychology, ChildSpace PerceptionJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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Ted Ruffman, Lance Slade, Juan Carlos Sandino, Amanda Fletcher. Are A-not-B errors caused by a belief about object location?. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00834.x

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